TWO-YEAR-OLD INJURED

Southland Times, Issue 23674, 24 November 1938, Page 10

TWO-YEAR-OLD INJURED

Good Recovery Made By Trisox TRAINER’S CONFIDENCE IN AJAX Peerless is reported to be all the better for the racing she had at the New Zealand Cup meeting. The American Way The Louisiana Jockey Club, which races at New Orleans commences a rsntmuous meeting of 113 days on November 24. The prize-money totals £150,000, and the most valuable race As the Louisiana Derby, of £3OOO. The Only System “No matter what dogmatic theorists may write,” says an American authority “the breeding of good horses still remains a matter of stumbling There is no system which will give better ie suits than the simple expedient of breeding a good horse to a good mare. Great Recovery Trisox appears to have made a wonderful recovery after breaking down badly at the Dunedin winter meeting end F. Langford has placed him back in work. The Panmure gelding is carrying a lot of condition at present ana it is not intended to work him seriously until well on in the year. Johnny is also a member of the same team but he is to be put aside until the hunting season. An Unfortunate Trip Home Qaran, the two-year-old who won two races at the New Zealand Cup meeting, was injured on the way home from Riccarton. He will be unable to race again for a while. It is considered there is no chance of his contesting the Great Northern Foal Stakes at Christmas time, and it is possible he will be on the scene for the rest of the season. All Destend from Eulogy The three placed fillies in this years * Oaks Stakes, Peerless, Homily, and Ri-ssian Ballet, all descend from the imported mare Eulogy. Peerless, by Beau Pere, is from Prestige, by Lunond frbm Homage, by Absurd from Eulogy.

Homily is by Posterity from Homage, and Russian Ballet is by Nightmarch from Praise, by Limond from Eulogy. Milford ' The connections behind Milford were not at all pleased with the weight allotted their horse in the Metropolitan Handicap, ' and though the Anomaly gelding ran another good race, on paper, there appeared to be good grounds for their dissatisfaction. Owing to the high opinion formed by Mr Russell of Milford, the latter is not likely to be seen at Wingatui at the Christmas meeting, but will be kept in reserve for the Wyndham and Inver car gill Cups to be run the .following (week, remarks The Evening Star. Globe Trotter Although Beaulivre may remain the classic representative of H. A. Telford’s team this season, the stable has another very promising two-year-old in Globe Trotter, who is one of the first offspring of the March Along horse Safari. Globe Trotter was given an outing on the second day of the recent Wellington meeting, and he surprised everyone, his connections included, by being among the leaders throughout and finishing a close fourth. Among those behind him were Baran and Winning Rival. Doping in America At the Saratoga meeting in New York state just over two months ago it was shown that some horses had been doped with morphine pills to make them slow. The New York Racing Commission immediately announced a new method of inspecting horses for the rest of the season. An inspection of all horses as near post time as possible is now made under this method, with a card similar to a hospital chart, on which all characteristics of appearance and temperament are entered. These include carriage of head, action of legs, temperature; pulse, respiration, and conditions of eyes and nose. The person in charge of each horse has to sign the card, and is directly responsible for the horse’s condition. The Time Test Many years ago Mr Huggins, a noted American trainer, came to this country with a string of horses to be trained at Lower Hare Park, near Newmarket. As an American, he was naturally a keen advocate of the time test. With admirable thoroughness he had a special round track built, with coloured posts set at every half-furlong. Round this artificial racecourse gallops were timed to a split second, and to prevent errors American “lads” used to these methods were employed to ride. When the day arrived for the “good thing” to be brought off there was no lack of stable confidence, dnd they plunged heavily. Sad to relate, the “good thing” failed to materialize, and after a considerable period of non-success, says an English writer, Mr Huggins was compelled to admit that the time test in England was a failure. He reluctantly joined his contemporaries on Newmarket Heath, there to train his horses in the orthodox manner. The moral of this story is obvious. Under conditions that do not vary horses generally show their real form, but in this country every racecourse is different. On some the draw plays an all-important part, on others the undulations are sufficiently severe to hinder rather than help a horse in running, so that it is almost impossible to time them accurately. True, all these matters are taken into consideration, but, allowing for this, I doubt if the time test is reliable enough to warrant extensive wagering. How can one assess in minutes or seconds the merits of a horse that (say) has broken a course record in August over the same track in November under entirely different conditions? In all probability he would finish among the “also rans.”